


Of sickness and stupid decisions

by Mamichigo



Series: We're all broke and tired (college au) [2]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-28
Updated: 2018-07-28
Packaged: 2019-06-17 14:36:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15463560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mamichigo/pseuds/Mamichigo
Summary: Something about the way Kokichi is acting seems off, leaving Shuichi confused and worried. It only gets worse when Kokichi shows up at his door in the middle of the night.-Written for #28 in the saiouma exchange!





	Of sickness and stupid decisions

**Author's Note:**

> For #28, who wanted Shuichi taking care of a sick Kokichi who was petending to be okay because he didn't want to worry anyone. I'm sorry this is so late, but it is done, so I hope you enjoy!
> 
> This fic is a standalone, you don't have to read the previous fic in the series to understand this one, they're just set in the same au.

Shuichi had gone to bed that day expecting to have a night of uneasy rest, but rest nonetheless. After an entire day of classes, work and worrying about Kokichi, he wouldn't be surprised if he barely managed to get any actual sleep.

Shuichi sighs to himself in the dark of his room when the name pops up in his mind. Kokichi's behavior had been off putting, to say the least, the entire time they managed to see each other. Because of their very different schedules, it was sometimes hard to meet up even if they went to the same school, which only made the whole thing even weirder. Kokichi usually was all over him whenever they were in the same space, to the embarrassment of Shuichi (not that he minded getting the attention). Talking fast, holding Shuichi's hand and dragging him one way or another to get food or go to the library with him.

Today, however, Kokichi seemed less energetic—well, that might not be the best word to describe it. He still had a permanent smile on his face, he still talked just as much as he did. But it all seemed calculated, carefully measured, and so clearly deliberate. Just like when he was putting on an act.

Just like he acted for almost the entirety of the first year of their rocky and hesitant (mostly on Kokichi’s side) friendship.

It wasn't unusual for Kokichi to fall back into his act and lies, but he did so when something was bothering him, specifically when he was trying to _hide_ something. So, watching Kokichi give him a practiced laugh, never getting too close, voice dripping with false excitement about things Shuichi knew he was not interested in had been highly uneasy for Shuichi.

Any of his attempts to ask Kokichi if he was okay had been quickly shut down, and Kokichi had quickly escaped claiming to have class before Shuichi could look into it more closely—Shuichi was also very sure that Kokichi had told him he didn’t have classes at the time they met that day awhile go.

So, to say that Shuichi was filled with anxiety over it would be an understatement. But despite that, he had forced himself to go to bed hoping to pass out from exhaustion instead of spending the night staring at the few texts he got from Kokichi that day, overthinking the meaning of the brief words. It’s not working very well, but at least he’s trying.

Shuichi isn’t aware that he does fall asleep at some point, but he’s rudely forced to realize that when he’s woken up by the loud and incessant noise of the doorbell ringing. Shuichi opens his eyes slowly, groaning and trying to situate himself. Meanwhile, Kaito, who was sleeping above him in the bunk bed, jumps down, holding his fists up like he’s ready to fight someone.

“What’s with the noise…?” He mumbles to Kaito against his pillow, tempted to just cover his ears and go back to bed.

“I dunno, but no normal person comes knocking on someone’s door at two in the morning!” Kaito whispers back hotly. He glances down at his own fists then at the closed door of their shared room. “Should we go check it out…?”

Shuichi gives Kaito a look at that. “I don’t think anything can make me leave my bed right now, Kaito.”

“I can’t go alone, man! W-What’s if it’s a ghost?!”

“Take a baseball bat to protect yourself,” Shuichi suggests, deadpan, already planning to drift back to sleep.

“That wouldn’t work against a ghost! Besides, we don’t even own a baseball bat!” Kaito approaches him, looking down at Shuichi with imploring eyes. When even that doesn’t convince Shuichi to move, Kaito retorts to physical strength, pulling Shuichi off the bed by his arms until he has no choice but to put his feet on the floor so he wouldn’t be carried around like a doll. “C’mon, Shuichi, are you that afraid to go? You’ve got me by your side!”

Shuichi sighs deeply, following Kaito out of the room. “You’re literally the only one afraid here…”

Shuichi lets Kaito to check the peephole while he rests against the wall, yawning and hoping the headache building up on his temple won’t get much worse than a dull pain. Maybe he should take an aspirin before going back to sleep…

“Uh, hey, Shuichi. It’s for you.” Kaito’s voice wakes him from his half asleep thoughts, and Shuichi looks at him confusedly.

“Wha-” He doesn’t get the chance to ask the question, as the door is opened and a small body quickly comes at him, plastering themselves to Shuichi’s side.

“Seriously, what the fuck, it’s late as hell…” Kaito is grumbling to himself whilst locking the door again.

Shuichi, for his part, is still processing what the hell is going on, but once he realizes it’s Kokichi clutching his shirt and weakly grinning up at him, his stomach sinks. From the way Kaito is looking sour for being woken up by Kokichi like this, but still is hanging around and watching them with a frown, he must have noticed something is wrong as well. Good to know it’s not just in his head.

“Hey, Kichi. Not that I’m not happy to see you, but what are you doing here at this time?” Shuichi asks as gently as he can, willing his mood to at least stay neutral for Kokichi’s sake.

“And this better not be some weird prank!” Kaito adds. Shuichi gives him a pleading look, feeling that this is not the time for conflict. Kaito huffs but nods.

“I can’t visit my beloved whenever I feel like it?” Kokichi asks cheerfully. He still hasn’t let go of Shuichi.

“Kokichi, it’s past two in the morning.” Shuichi looks down at Kokichi, narrowing his eyes. “And you’re wearing pajamas and socks. You didn’t even put shoes before coming, what were you thinking?”

Kokichi pouts and whines in protest. “I just wanted to see you! Let’s cuddle!”

“Let me see if I got this right,” Kaito starts, looking more pissed off by the minute. “You came here in the middle of the night, scared the crap out of me and woke us up on a weekday to… Cuddle?”

“Yup!”

“Of fucking course… I’m getting myself a glass of water or something before I strangle you with your stupid pajamas.” Kaito stomps his way to the kitchen, which is just a few steps away from the living room and has a clear view to both of them, considering there’s no wall separating the two rooms. Kaito makes a point of slurping on his water as loudly as possible.

Shuichi can already feel his headache getting worse.

“Can we talk?” Shuichi asked quietly to Kokichi. “For real this time.”

“What do you mean, we are talking! Did you forget our conversation already? How mean, Shuichi, you’re crueler than expected!” Again with the exaggerated, distant act.

“You’ve been acting weird all day, it’s a little hard _not_ to notice something is off.” Shuichi moved away so he could at least sit on the couch—.

Well, or at least he tried to, as Shuichi was pulled back as soon as he tried, Kokichi’s hands tightening on his shirt, his grin growing. Shuichi looked down at him with a frown.

“Okay, we’ll stay here then.” Shuichi continued to observe Kokichi, looking at his clothes more closely. “How did you get here at this time, anyways? Did you hail a taxi at this time of the night?” Shuichi winced just imagining how much that cost.

“No, silly! I don’t have all that money to waste, you know that. I walked here, of course!” Kokichi explained as if that was the most logic course of action.

“You… Walked here. On your socks.” Kokichi nodded, and his permanent grin is starting to seriously get on Shuichi’s nerves. Not out of irritation or exasperation, but just pure concern. “That’s almost forty minutes on foot, Kokichi, you could get sick!”

Kokichi seemed to hesitate at that. It was brief, but it was there, in the way his body tensed up. “I just wanted to see you, don’t be such spoilsports.”

“Not even you are this reckless, Kokichi. Or insensitive. You know I have to be up early tomorrow, and you’re always the one telling me to sleep more, so it makes no sense that you’d wake me up late at night for no reason.” Kokichi tried to interrupt, but Shuichi quickly talked over him, knowing that they would get nowhere if he let himself get dragged into the web of Kokichi’s lies. “Besides, you have a play in two weeks, you wouldn’t risk getting sick at a time like this.”

Unless…

Shuichi stared at him, only now noticing how unfocused Kokichi’s eyes were. Not only that, but Kokichi hadn’t stopped leaning against him the whole time since he got in, holding on to him like his life depended on it. His disregard to his own health so close to a concert was also very much suspicious.

“Hey, Kichi, come here…” He said gently. Kokichi looked confused at the change in tone, but he got a little closer, leaning up.

Before Kokichi could even think of pulling away, Shuichi brushed his bangs out of the way so he could feel his forehead. It didn’t surprise Shuichi at all that he felt it burning up under his palm.

“You’re already sick,” Shuichi stated firmly, leaving no room for argument, as he knew Kokichi would try to find a way out of it if he could. “Is Rantaro out of town or did you manage to sneak past him to come here? You know he’ll be worried sick if he can’t find you in the morning.”

From the way Kokichi pouted and refused to reply, he had his answer. When Shuichi pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath to calm down his headache, he could see the guilt was starting to sink into Kokichi. It really said how sick he was that Kokichi so visibly deflated, shoulders slumped.

“C’mon, I need to make sure you won’t make yourself worse. You need to lie down first of all, you look like you’re going to collapse if I let you go.”

“It’s not _that_ bad, Shuichi, sheesh! You’re being a worrywart.”

“And you’re being stubborn and worrying me to death, so I’m sorry if I don’t believe that right now.” Kokichi winces at that, so Shuichi, who doesn’t really want to weigh Kokichi down with guilt, kisses the top of his head in comfort. “Let’s go, couch.”

Kokichi whines all the way there, but he does comply. Only the knowledge of how weak his own arms are keeps Shuichi from carrying Kokichi in them as he sees how he’s occasionally wobbling. Settling onto the couch isn’t easy either, since Kokichi refuses to let go of Shuichi, so they shuffle around awkwardly until Kokichi is properly laid down on Shuichi’s thighs, face hidden on his stomach.

“Well, I’m going back to sleep. You two need anything before I go lay down?” Kaito, who had been looking over them like a protective statue, finally makes his presence known again.

“Could you call Rantaro to let him know Kokichi is here? Oh, and get the medicine box, please?” Kaito nods at his request, leaving the two alone as he goes to back to the bedroom.

“Am I in trouble…?” A small voice asks and Shuichi looks down at Kokichi. He seems to have lost the energy to keep his façade up, and as much of a relief it was to not have to look past all the acting, seeing the boy vulnerable always managed tug painfully at his heart.

“Of course not. I’m just worried about you, you’re burning up and walking around in your pajamas probably didn’t help it at all.” Shuichi ran his fingers through the faded purple hair, caressing Kokichi’s scalp. “I’ll get you some medicine then we can both try to get some rest.”

“Oh. Okay.” Kokichi spent a long minute in silence, enough to make Shuichi question if he had fallen asleep already. But soon enough, his voice was back in a whisper, “Rantaro is gonna be so mad at me.”

“I wouldn’t worry much about that if I were you,” Kaito’s familiar voice said, approaching them once again. “He’s more relieved than angry, I think.” He shrugged.

Kaito passed their box of medicine to Shuichi, along with a water bottle and a blanket, the last one being draped on the back of the couch.

“I don’t think you’ll be moving from there any time soon, so I thought you’d need a blanket,” Kaito explained through a yawn. He glanced down at Kokichi briefly before turning his back to them. “Take care of him. Night, Shuichi.”

“Night, Momota, you’re the beeest,” Kokichi replied instead, weakly waving in the general direction of the bedroom.

Alone again, Shuichi rummages through the small cardboard box now in his hands, reading through different medicine labels. Kokichi needed something for the fever, and he wouldn’t doubt he was in pain too, so a paracetamol would do. They’d see what else to give him later in the morning, once Shuichi was sure of what is wrong with Kokichi. For now, it was enough to at least keep the fever down.

“Can you sit up for a bit? I need you to take this pill,” Shuichi tugged gently on Kokichi’s wrist, more to encourage him to change positions than to actually pull him up.

“Then we can cuddle?” Kokichi asked back with a weak grin as he sat, leaning heavily against Shuichi.

“Then we can cuddle. Here, don’t dry swallow it, I don’t want you to hurt your throat.” Shuichi had seen Kokichi knock back pills before he could stop him too many times not be wary. He made sure to push the water bottle into Kokichi’s hand before giving him the pill.

“Right, got it, sir,” Kokichi muttered, following his instructions. “Is it cuddling time yet?”

Shuichi chuckled, shaking his head. “Yeah, sure, let’s get some sleep. Just pass me the water bottle first.”

He wouldn’t risk having a headache all day tomorrow, so Shuichi took an aspirin himself. Once the tasks were completed, Shuichi opened his arms for Kokichi to settle into, which he accepted with eagerness. It was a tight fit with both of them lying on the small couch, and it wasn’t exactly comfortable either. But, snuggled together under the warm blanket together, Shuichi didn’t mind it all that much.

“Remind me to actually take your temperature tomorrow,” Shuichi said to Kokichi sleepily.

“Funny you’d think I’ll be the one remembering anything tomorrow,” Kokichi pointed out, referring to how out of it he seemed to be.

“Good point. I hope you can at least remember why you thought not wearing shoes was a good idea.” Shuichi rubbed Kokichi’s back absentmindedly, the movements slow as he started to drift off.

“I really did just want to see you,” Kokichi whispered into his neck, almost inaudibly.

“I know.”

“I missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> [Find me on tumblr!](https://mamichigo.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Edit: If you're curious about everyone's majors, check the series' description!


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